Disneyland Paris meets EDM: Electroland Festival

Anyone who knows me, knows I am obsessed with Disney. ‘Now That’s What I Call Disney Princess’ is the only CD I have in my car and I think I’ve watched the likes of Mulan and Tangled at least 300 times. So as you can imagine, Disneyland is where you’ll find me at my happiest.

A couple of months ago my friend sent me a link to a news article about Disneyland Paris hosting its first ever festival, Electroland. We both said it would be an amazing experience in a ‘can you imagine?!’ sort of way; I don’t think either of us realistically thought we would end up going. After a couple of hours of thinking about it, we both decided that we may as well go for it and book tickets. We managed to find a really affordable airbnb in the village right next to the park which sealed the deal and excitedly we booked our tickets.

Fast forward two months (and only two weeks after attending Glastonbury, it’s been a busy month!) we arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport early on Saturday afternoon. We took the Magic Shuttle to the park and got into Magic Kingdom around 2pm. Oh, yeah, we bought Magic Kingdom tickets as well… when in Rome!

There’s no better feeling as a Disney addict than walking on to Main Street in Magic Kingdom with the classic Disney music playing and Cinderella’s castle (or Sleeping Beauty’s castle in Paris, I’ll be accurate) straight in front of you. I think Danielle captured just how excited we were in this photo!

It was about 30 degrees in Paris on Saturday, so I actually felt like I was at the Magic Kingdom park in Florida rather than France. The last time I was at Disneyland Paris was Christmas 2015 when it was just above freezing! Bit of a contrast.

Our Electroland tickets didn’t allow us admission into the Walt Disney Studios park until 7pm. Luckily, Magic Kingdom is our idea of heaven so we spent our hours well and truly ‘soaking up the magic’; we went on the obligatory rides (It’s a Small World has to be done), took photos with characters, and watched the infamous parade make its way through the walkways.

I was even reunited with my old friend Jafar! We last met when I was six years old. He hasn’t aged particularly well but was as equally pleased to see me I think.

Considering we didn’t originally plan on going to Magic Kingdom, we made a pretty good afternoon out of it to say the least. At 6pm we went to get some dinner in Disney Village and got ready for the Electroland festival.

Electroland was in the other park at Disneyland Paris, Walt Disney Studios. The only people allowed access into the park were those with Electroland tickets so the park was unusually quiet. The stage and audience area were positioned in front of the Tower of Terror which provided a very scenic backdrop.

We were quite worried when we first entered the park because the VIP Privilege zone had been designed to make up around 75% of the total audience area. This meant people with standard tickets, like us, had to stand behind the VIP barriers on the outskirts. Not many of the VIP ticket holders were in the crowd at 7pm so the crowd had a huge gap in it. We thought the atmosphere was going to be terrible all evening!

We mainly wanted to see Nervo and Steve Aoki later in the evening so we left the stage area to go on the rides. The park was so quiet, particularly in the ride areas, that we had a 0 minute wait on Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror and Crush’s Coaster. The ticket had already paid for itself really as these rides usually have queues of at least 45 minutes.

My favourite area of Disneyland Paris is Ratatouille’s Paris area in the corner of Walt Disney Studios. On an evening like Saturday’s, the area becomes very atmospheric.

After walking straight on to the main rides in the park we returned to the stage area to watch Steve Aoki. It’s quite a strange experience to come off the Ratatouille ride and walk straight into an EDM concert in honesty.

By the time we made our way back to the stage area the crowd had filled out and luckily, the atmosphere was great. Light projections lit up the Tower of Terror in time with the music playing and entertainers on stilts walked through the crowds.

Steve Aoki’s set was around two hours long and featured a remix of Lion King’s Circle of Life at one point. Only in Disneyland!

The festival finished at midnight and we made our way out of the park to our airbnb. Our host was lovely enough to pick us up from the park for free at 12:15am! If you are looking for an affordable way of going to Disneyland Paris for a few days, this is definitely the way to do it. As a bonus you get to meet some lovely French people and see their local village (and dog!).

I reallllllly wish we had longer to spend at Disneyland and Paris generally. I’ve found myself constantly daydreaming about last weekend whilst at work this week. Disneyland recently posted an Instagram photo suggesting Electroland will be a yearly festival so here’s hoping I will be back!

June 30, 2017

Jen Horsfall

Welcome to Jen to Paper! I’m Jen, a 23 year old blogger who loves sharing experiences with the world. On this site I write about the the countries and places I’m lucky enough to have visited and offer tips and advice along the way. Read the full story...

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